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'I'm sorry Nic' - Raynal and White's heated exchange after final whistle

Nic White and Mathieu Raynal Credit: The Legend of Marty Banks on FB/Nine Sports

Unseen footage released by an Australian network reveals Mathieu Raynal apologised to Nic White after his late refereeing call helped New Zealand beat Australia earlier in the week.

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The on-field conversation between the pair came after the French referee made the controversial call to overturn an Australia free kick for timewasting.

The Aussies were deep in their own 22 at the time and had just reclaimed possession with a vital turnover. They were also leading on the scoreboard with less than two minutes remaining, but relinquished that advantage as the ball was handed back to New Zealand who went on to score a match-winning try a minute later.

The heart-breaking finish enraged many Australian fans, but match-footage did reveal a precedent was set before the decision was made. Raynal repeatedly instructed Bernard Foley – the Wallabies flyhalf tasked with kicking for touch – to hurry up with his kick.

As Foley continued to run down the clock, his teammates began screaming and gesticulating, desperate for their ten to get rid of the ball. And then, just as Foley was about to launch, an impatient Raynal stepped in to give a scrum to the All Blacks.

Cue Jordie Barrett’s try in the corner off the set piece and utter delirium for the visiting fans.

Australian network Channel 9 have recently released footage of an exchange between White and Raynal after the game which opens with the referee apologising.

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“Nic I’m sorry, you know exactly what I wanted to do. I told you two times and then you still continued,” Raynal said.

Unhappy with the justification offered up, White opted to respond curtly and point out the huge ramifications the call would have: “I understand that, but he [Foley] was just about to kick it in two seconds. Mate that just cost us the Rugby Championship.”

Raynal, seeing that Nic was truly incensed, became more defensive as he went on to explain why he made the surprising decision, listing out all the warnings he had given before dishing out the call.

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“Can I speak? Can I speak? I told you, you first, because you are the captain. I then I told your ten. Then I am warning him, saying ‘if you don’t play immediately, I will give a scrum.

“So is that not fair, what you did at the end? You just ran the time down.

“If you think I am not capable to give a scrum and turnover you make a mistake. So now you know it.”

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Comments

10 Comments
J
Jmann 778 days ago

perhap NZ should seek an apology for the clear forward pass in Kalloway's 2nd try?

M
Michael Röbbins (academic and writer extraordinair 779 days ago

I’d be disingenuous if I didn’t confess there was a small, deep, dark place in my soul that rejoiced in Nic the Arse Hammer’s spoiled party. As someone once said, though, if one lives by the sword one will surely perish by it as well: time to read up Nicy.

Alas, similar could be said of all of these embarrassingly gushing followers of the god known as LAW among one people and RULES among a singular homunculus living a sadly simulacrumesque existence. They are so blissfully myopic they cannot (or perhaps willfully?…) see the unobtrusively plain truth of the matter.

I
Izak 779 days ago

Nic White should have faked a injury - acting is his game.

D
Dennis 779 days ago

Very misleading headline and first paragraph. Pretty irresponsible really

m
mk 779 days ago

That is a bit misleading to say he apologised. He simply said sorry as a precursor to reiterating with White the process that applied, he wasn't saying he regretted the decision or was wrong. And the one who was wrong by breaching the rule and the spirit of the game whilst ignoring the official in the situation was Foley, and possibly his complicit captain.

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Flankly 2 hours ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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